Dennis man sentenced in Tomaselli murder case

Friday

Apr 4, 2014 at 6:13 PMApr 5, 2014 at 1:58 PM

Barnstable Superior Court Judge Gary A. Nickerson today sentenced William F. Horton Jr., 75, of South Dennis, to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Horton Jr. and Phillip R. Horton, 28, of Apopka, Fla., both pled guilty to charges in the shooting death of Joseph F, Tomaselli Jr., 24, at a beach parking area in South Yarmouth on April 19, 2009, according to a press release from Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael OKeefe.

Barnstable Superior Court Judge Gary A. Nickerson today sentenced William F. Horton Jr., 75, of South Dennis, to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Horton Jr. and Phillip R. Horton, 28, of Apopka, Fla., both pled guilty to charges in the shooting death of Joseph F, Tomaselli Jr., 24, at a beach parking area in South Yarmouth on April 19, 2009, according to a press release from Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael OKeefe.

The Hortons were arrested separately in March 2011 after a two-year investigation by the members of the Massachusetts State Police Detective Unit assigned to the Cape and Islands District Attorney’s Office and the Yarmouth Police Department. The investigation involved the use of a wiretap supervised by the Cape and Island’s District Attorney’s Office and monitored by members of the State Police Detective Unit, Yarmouth Police Department and Barnstable County Sheriff’s Office.

William F. Horton, Jr. pled guilty to murder in the first degree and admitted to planning the murder of Joseph Tomaselli and shooting him once in the head.

Phillip R. Horton, who pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter for his role in luring Tomaselli, his friend, to the beach area and for acting as a lookout, was sentenced to 15 to 20 years in state prison.

Phillip R. Horton also pled guilty to possession with the intent to distribute a Class B substance, oxycodone, and five counts of distribution of class D marijuana. These charges resulted from an undercover investigation conducted by the Cape and Islands Drug Task Force in 2011. Nickerson sentenced Phillip R. Horton to five years of probation concurrent on each drug charge and to follow the committed sentence received on the manslaughter case.